NaturallyScott

Send us Fan MailSeven killer whales. Twenty humpbacks. Three hundred dolphins. Two hundred sea lions. All visible at the same time.After more than fifty years exploring the Pacific Ocean, Scott Harris experienced what he calls the single best day for marine mammals he's ever had on the water.In this episode of Naturally Scott Adventures, Scott takes us to Monterey Bay, California, for an extraordinary encounter with a family of Bigg's killer whales, also known as transient orcas.The stars of the adventure are members of the famous CA51 pod, nicknamed the Friendly Pod for their unusual curiosity around boats, along with a massive male named Jimmy.In this episode:🐋 Why killer whales are actually dolphins—and among the ocean's ultimate apex predators👑 Meet Aurora, Andy, and Astrid, three generations of the CA51 family🌊 How researchers identify individual killer whales by their dorsal fins and saddle patches🚤 What happened when a curious killer whale spent several minutes alongside a small inflatable boat🤿 The unforgettable experience of watching killer whales swim directly beneath Scott's boat🦈 How Bigg's killer whales hunt marine mammals, including seals, sea lions, and other whales🐬 The remarkable gathering of humpbacks, dolphins, sea lions, and killer whales in Monterey Bay💨 What happened when hundreds of dolphins and sea lions suddenly fled from the approaching predators🧠 How killer whale families pass hunting knowledge from one generation to the next❤️ Meet Jimmy, a massive male with a towering dorsal fin who regularly associates with different podsScott also explores one of the ocean's most intriguing mysteries: why wild killer whales, despite being formidable predators capable of hunting animals much larger than humans, almost never attack people.It's a firsthand account of an extraordinary wildlife encounter, filled with excitement, remarkable animal behavior, and a deep appreciation for these magnificent ocean predators.

Send us Fan MailWhat kind of owl lives underground, shares its neighborhood with ground squirrels, and teaches its chicks to sound like rattlesnakes?Meet the Burrowing Owl, one of North America's most unusual and fascinating birds of prey.In this episode of Naturally Scott, Scott Harris welcomes wildlife biologist and longtime Burrowing Owl researcher Lynne Trulio, whose fascination with these remarkable little raptors began while studying California ground squirrels at UC Davis.What started as research into squirrels became a lifelong exploration of the owls that depend on their underground homes.In this episode:🦉 Why Burrowing Owls are the only owls that nest underground🐿️ How ground squirrels and prairie dogs provide the burrows that western Burrowing Owls need to survive🐍 The extraordinary rattlesnake-like sounds Burrowing Owl chicks make to frighten predators🚨 How owls recognize and respond to ground squirrel alarm calls🏠 Why Florida Burrowing Owls can dig their own burrows while western populations generally rely on other animals⚾ How Burrowing Owls thrive in surprising places, from baseball fields and golf courses to military bases and agricultural land🦅 How these tiny predators protect themselves from larger hawks and owls💔 Why habitat loss, rodenticides, and the destruction of prairie dog colonies threaten their survival🧬 What genetic research reveals about migrating and resident Burrowing Owls❤️ Why returning to the same burrow—and the same mate—can improve breeding successScott and Lynne also explore the unusual relationship between owls and ground squirrels, including why the squirrels may be getting the short end of the arrangement.It's a fascinating conversation about adaptation, survival, and the importance of protecting the places these remarkable little owls call home.

Send us Fan MailImagine a tiny, 12-acre island in the middle of a South Carolina lake. Now imagine one million birds gathering there to spend the night.Welcome to Bomb Island.In this edition of Naturally Scott Adventures, Scott Harris takes us to Lake Murray, South Carolina, home to one of North America's most extraordinary bird spectacles: the annual gathering of Purple Martins before their migration to South America.Every summer, hundreds of thousands of these beautiful swallows converge on an island that was once used as a bombing target by American military pilots during World War II.Today, the island hosts an entirely different kind of aerial spectacle.In this episode:🐦 Why Purple Martins are America's largest swallows💜 Why these beautiful birds aren't actually purple🪰 How Purple Martins catch insects and even drink while flying🏠 The extraordinary relationship between Purple Martins and human beings🥚 Why nesting gourds and martin houses are so important✈️ How Bomb Island got its name during World War II🌅 Why up to a million Purple Martins gather on this tiny island every summer🇧🇷 How these two-ounce birds prepare for their remarkable migration to Brazil🦅 Bald Eagles, Ospreys, Great Blue Herons, and other wildlife of Lake Murray🎥 Zach Steinhauser and his documentary Purple Haze🚤 How to visit Bomb Island, including the best times for photography, birdwatching, and avoiding crowdsScott shares his experiences visiting Bomb Island, from peaceful weekday outings to summer evenings when hundreds of boats gather to watch the spectacle.And he explains why this remarkable gathering earned a place in his upcoming book, American Safaris: 25 Epic Wildlife Spectacles.It's an extraordinary opportunity to witness one of nature's greatest gatherings—and one that's surprisingly easy to experience.

Send us Fan MailImagine being 100 feet beneath the ocean's surface, clinging to rocks as a powerful current threatens to sweep you away. Visibility is poor, the water is cold, and suddenly an enormous shadow emerges from the murk.An oceanic manta ray, with a wingspan approaching 20 feet, glides overhead. Then it turns, looks directly into your eyes, and circles back.For bestselling author Sy Montgomery, that encounter was unforgettable.In this episode of Naturally Scott, Scott Harris welcomes Sy back to discuss her new book, Oceanic Manta Adventure: Saving the Angels of the Sea, featuring underwater photography by Patrick Joyce.The book follows Sy and a team of scientists and photographers to Isla de la Plata, Ecuador, home to the world's largest known aggregation of giant oceanic manta rays.In this episode:🌊 Why oceanic manta rays are among the ocean's most mysterious animals🪽 How these enormous fish can reach wingspans exceeding 18 feet🤿 The extraordinary challenges of diving in the cold, powerful Humboldt Current👁️ What happens when a giant manta ray looks directly into your eyes🇪🇨 How Ecuadorian researcher Michel Guerrero discovered an extraordinary gathering of mantas📡 How scientists use acoustic tags and receivers to study their movements😳 The mysterious theft of research equipment—and the loss of valuable scientific data📸 How Patrick and Deb Joyce helped bring the expedition and book to life💔 Why oceanic manta rays face serious conservation threats, including fishing for their gill rakers❤️ How readers, divers, and young conservationists can help protect these remarkable animalsSy also reads a passage from her new book, describing her first extraordinary encounter with an oceanic manta ray.It's a conversation about adventure, science, empathy, and the powerful connections that can form between humans and the extraordinary animals sharing our planet.

Send us Fan MailImagine standing just a few feet from a 6,000-pound marine mammal—three tons of muscle, blubber, and attitude. Now imagine watching two of these giants battle for control of a California beach.Welcome to the world of Northern Elephant Seals.In this edition of Naturally Scott Adventures, Scott Harris travels to Piedras Blancas, just north of San Simeon along California’s spectacular Highway 1, to experience one of the most remarkable—and accessible—wildlife spectacles in North America.Northern Elephant Seals were once hunted nearly to extinction for their oil-rich blubber. Fewer than 100 survived around the beginning of the 20th century. Today, their extraordinary recovery has brought hundreds of thousands of these animals back to the Pacific coast, including a massive breeding colony at Piedras Blancas.In this episode:🦭 Just how enormous a 6,000-pound bull elephant seal really is❤️ The remarkable conservation success story that saved elephant seals from extinction🏖️ Why Piedras Blancas is one of the best places in the world to see them👑 How dominant males, known as beachmasters, establish and defend their harems💥 What happens when two enormous bulls collide in a battle for breeding rights📣 How their inflatable noses amplify powerful, unmistakable vocalizations🐣 When to visit to see breeding, newborn pups, molting, or juvenile seals🌊 How elephant seals spend months at sea, diving thousands of feet in search of food🦈 Why killer whales and Great White Sharks are among their most dangerous predators📸 How to experience these extraordinary animals safely from the Piedras Blancas boardwalkScott also explores the remarkable endurance of breeding males, which can go roughly 100 days without eating and lose as much as a third of their body weight while defending their territories.And he shares other places to see elephant seals, including Point Reyes National Seashore and San Miguel Island in Channel Islands National Park.From their near-extinction to their spectacular return, elephant seals are one of America's great wildlife success stories. And at Piedras Blancas, you can experience them without hiking a mile—or even leaving sight of your car.

Send us Fan MailTitleE80 John Squires – Canada Lynx, Wolverines & a Lifetime in the WildBuzzsprout DescriptionCanada Lynx and wolverines are two of North America’s most elusive mammals. Most of us will never see either one in the wild. John Squires has spent decades following both.In this episode of Naturally Scott, Scott Harris sits down with John, a research wildlife biologist with the Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Research Station, whose career has taken him deep into the snowy forests and mountains of the American West.John’s path actually began with birds of prey. As a seventh grader obsessed with raptors, he called the Colorado Falconry Club and soon found himself following a goshawk through the scrub oak outside Denver. That fascination with wildlife eventually led to a career studying some of the most secretive predators in North America.  john-scott (1)In this episode:🐈 How John helped launch a decades-long study of Canada Lynx❄️ Why enormous paws make lynx perfectly adapted for deep snow🐇 The extraordinary relationship between lynx and Snowshoe Hares🐾 Finding 23 sets of lynx tracks on the first day of a new research project📡 What scientists have learned from tracking and collaring more than 250 lynx😳 Coming face-to-face with an angry mother lynx while holding her kitten🏔️ Why mountain lions sometimes kill lynx—but don’t eat them🐾 How long wild lynx can live and how much territory they need💪 Why wolverines require territories several times larger than lynx🦴 How wolverines find carrion buried beneath deep snow—and crush bones other predators can’t📈 Why John is now seeing encouraging signs for wolverines in the Northern RockiesJohn has spent nearly 30 years studying Canada Lynx, and what began with those first tracks has grown into a research program involving hundreds of animals and an extraordinary body of knowledge about how lynx survive at the southern edge of their range.  john-scott (1)It’s a conversation about science, fieldwork, predators, deep snow—and what we can learn by spending a lifetime following animals most people will never even glimpse.

Send us Fan MailEvery March, one of the greatest wildlife spectacles in North America takes place along a relatively short stretch of Nebraska’s Platte River.Roughly a million Sandhill Cranes migrate north each spring, and an estimated 80 percent of them funnel through the Platte—a remarkable migration bottleneck where enormous numbers of these ancient birds gather to rest and refuel before continuing toward their breeding grounds. In this edition of Naturally Scott Adventures, Scott Harris takes us into the blinds and fields of Nebraska to experience the spectacle from darkness before dawn until the last cranes return to the river at night.In this episode:🐦 Why hundreds of thousands of Sandhill Cranes converge on the Platte River🌅 What it’s like to arrive before dawn and hear tens of thousands of cranes slowly awaken📣 How a Sandhill Crane produces its extraordinary prehistoric-sounding call🪽 Watching thousands of four-foot-tall birds begin jumping, calling, and finally taking flight🌽 Where the cranes go—and what they eat—during the day💃 Why Sandhill Cranes dance, leap, bow, and toss objects into the air❤️ What “mate for life” really means for a Sandhill Crane🦅 Bald eagles, coyotes, white-tailed deer, and the other wildlife sharing the Platte🐔 Scott’s side trip to watch Greater Prairie-Chickens and Western Meadowlarks dance❄️ How to combine the Platte River migration with another enormous migration spectacle: the Snow Geese of Loess BluffsAnd then there’s sunset.Scott returns to the river as the first cranes circle overhead, small groups begin dropping into the shallow water, and eventually thousands seem to rain from the sky. The noise slowly builds—and then, after darkness falls, gradually disappears.On Scott’s final night, approximately 20,000 cranes settled into the river. The birds went silent, the blind went dark, and from somewhere nearby came the howl of a lone coyote. It was a fitting ending to an experience that has been described as soul enriching—and one Scott believes every wildlife lover should experience at least once.

Send us Fan MailJoshua Tree National Park sits at the meeting point of two deserts, welcomes roughly three million visitors a year, and protects a landscape filled with Joshua trees, desert bighorn sheep, mountain lions, tortoises, bats—and some of the darkest skies within reach of Southern California.In this episode of Naturally Scott, Scott Harris sits down with Jane Rodgers, superintendent of Joshua Tree National Park, to talk about what it takes to protect one of America’s most recognizable desert landscapes.Jane began her National Park Service career as a biologist working in restoration ecology and ecosystem stewardship. Today, she oversees a park confronting everything from rapidly growing visitation to invasive plants, changing fire regimes, hotter and drier conditions, and a dramatic decline in desert tortoises. In this episode:🌵 What makes a Joshua tree a Joshua tree—and its remarkable relationship with the yucca moth🏜️ How the Mojave and Colorado deserts meet inside the park🐏 Desert bighorn sheep, mountain lions, badgers, bats, and more than 250 species of birds🐢 Why desert tortoise numbers have fallen so dramatically🔥 How invasive grasses are changing the desert’s natural fire regime🌡️ What hotter, drier conditions mean for the future of Joshua trees🌱 How scientists are identifying potential refuges and preserving Joshua tree genetics🥾 How the park has adapted as visitation climbed from roughly 1.5 million to 3 million⛏️ The hundreds of abandoned mines scattered across the landscape🦇 How old mine openings are being made safe for people while remaining accessible to bats🌌 Why Joshua Tree’s night skies have become part of the park’s appealJane also gives Scott her itinerary for someone with just one day at Joshua Tree—from entering through the west side and exploring the Joshua tree forests and famous rock formations to Keys View and the drive toward Twentynine Palms.It’s a conversation about a spectacular desert, the wildlife that depends on it, and the scientists and park staff working to ensure it remains wild for generations to come.

Send us Fan MailAlong historic Route 66 in the Arizona desert sits the tiny town of Oatman—a former gold-mining community where the most famous residents have four legs.In this edition of Naturally Scott Adventures, Scott Harris visits the wild burros of Oatman, Arizona, descendants of the animals that once worked the region’s mines. When mining faded, the burros were left behind. They adapted to the brutal desert, survived, and generations later still roam the Black Mountains.But Oatman’s “town burros” have discovered an easier way to make a living.Each morning they wander into town, stroll down Main Street, climb onto sidewalks, poke their heads into shops, and happily accept treats from visitors. If a burro decides to lie down in the road, nobody moves it—locals simply put out traffic cones and everyone drives around.In this episode:🫏 How Oatman’s mining burros became wild desert animals⛏️ The gold-rush history behind this unusual Route 66 town🏜️ How burros survive extreme heat, scarce food, and limited water👑 Why Oatman’s town burros really do seem to run the place💪 The surprising strength and toughness of wild burros💧 How jacks protect their groups and defend precious water🐴 The challenge of managing America’s wild burro populations🍦 Scott’s childhood memories of Oatman and Thrifty Ice CreamScott also heads outside town to see the more independent desert burros and shares other places to find them, including Lake Mead, Death Valley, and Custer State Park.It’s a wildlife adventure, a Route 66 road trip, and a visit to one of the wonderfully strange places that could only exist in the American West.

Send us Fan MailAmy Tan is best known as the bestselling author of The Joy Luck Club. But in recent years, another passion has taken over much of her attention: the birds in her own backyard.In this episode of Naturally Scott, Scott Harris sits down with Amy to talk about The Backyard Bird Chronicles, a deeply personal collection of observations, sketches, questions, and encounters that grew out of her return to nature during a difficult period in her life. What began as a private journal eventually became a book filled with Amy’s own artwork and the intimate stories of the birds she came to know just outside her window. In this episode:🐦 How birding helped Amy rediscover beauty and curiosity🎨 Returning to drawing and learning the art of nature journaling🏡 Discovering more than 70 bird species in her own yard🦉 Living alongside a mother Great Horned Owl and her young son💧 The daily ritual of feeders, hummingbird nectar, mealworms, and fresh water💔 The heartbreak of seeing sick birds—and why Amy sometimes takes her feeders down🧠 What birds reveal about intelligence, behavior, play, and even emotion✍️ Why nature journaling is less about making perfect art and more about asking better questionsAmy also explains why she has little interest in chasing only rare birds. For her, the real joy comes from watching familiar birds closely enough to notice how their behavior changes from day to day. It’s a conversation about birds, art, curiosity, attention—and the extraordinary things that can happen when we slow down and truly look at what’s right outside our door.